Discover the timeless charm of One Lucky Me, a heartwarming journey that beautifully celebrates the unbreakable bond between parent and child. Through captivating storytelling and stunning illustrations, Brittany Belle captures the essence of unconditional love in this cherished children’s book and lasting family keepsake.
Designed for readers of all ages—children, parents, grandparents, and families alike—One Lucky Me invites you to follow the tender lullaby of a mother guiding her child from infancy to adulthood. While life may change, a parent’s unwavering love remains eternal. This deeply touching story conveys a powerful message about the circle of life, concluding with a moving sentiment that will resonate with readers long after the final page.
With enchanting illustrations, One Lucky Me is the ideal gift for baby showers, birthdays, holidays, and any special occasion that celebrates family love. Perfect for bedtime reading, it allows families to create meaningful moments that will be treasured for generations.
Embark on this exhilarating voyage of parenthood, where every breathtaking moment tugs at your emotions and inspires warm embraces. Experience the unforgettable magic of One Lucky Me—a heartfelt tale that celebrates the enduring parent-child bond and the profound love we share with our loved ones.
My Review:
Oh. My. Gosh. What a novel way to write a children’s picture book. The drawings are sweet, the story sublime. As I read, I envisioned my own baby in my arms, changing diapers all the way through school and beyond. The lyrics are sentimental and true. Lines rhyme in a cadence that is perfect. Any child would be very lucky to have this book.
‘It’s happened, a three-week lockdown has been imposed by the government. One walk a day for food or medicine. They’ve got the old retired medics back in to help the NHS and Wetherspoons are refusing to pay their staff. It wasn’t clear if all the old medics worked for Wetherspoons’. Dedicated to all the shopkeepers, and everyone who stayed home, played their part and followed the science … Follow Aunt Sheila as she scribbles down her secret thoughts from the small corner shop. Hilarious and everything you wanted to know about the outbreak from Boris the PM, the Chancellor’s new furlough scheme, school closures, panic buying and baking bread. Hilarious, no holds barred, from Wuhan to Yorkshire, follow Aunt Sheila’s itemised diary on the little Northern estate, it’s odd folk and the pub closures. The Diary contains a free copy of ‘The Magic Vodka Wardrobe’ series, Book 5.
It was truly a hilarious read. I laughed at the nick names used and even at how this book managed to entwine Trump, Boris, the Queen and her family, Wuhan, and lots of vodka. Thanks, Sheila.
“A rich journey through 17th century France in all its aspects—its bucolic countryside, the still-unmatched splendor of the court of Louis XIV, and the struggling French colony in Canada.” ~ Margaret George, New York Times bestselling author of Elizabeth I, The Autobiography of Henry VIII & The Memoirs of Cleopatra
France, 1670. On her sixteenth birthday, Sylvienne d’Aubert thinks her dream has come true. She holds in her hands an invitation from King Louis XIV to attend his royal court. However, her mother harbors a longtime secret she’s kept from both her daughter and the monarch, a secret that could upend Sylvienne’s life.
In Paris, Sylvienne is quickly swept up in the romance, opulence, and excitement of royal life. Assigned to serve King Louis’s favorite mistress, she is absorbed into the monarch’s most intimate circle. But the naïve country girl soon finds herself ill-prepared for the world of intrigue, illicit affairs, and power-mongering that takes place behind the shiny façade of Versailles.
This debut historical novel from Peggy Joque Williams captures the vibrancy and quandaries of 17th century life for a village girl seeking love and excitement during the dangerous reign of the Sun King.
When Angels Fly
Paris, the City of Light
By Peggy Joque Williams
Place de la Concorde, Paris
In Courting the Sun: A Novel of Versailles, Sylvienne d’Aubert, a teenager from the small town of Amiens, France is invited to Paris and to the court of King Louis XIV. She has never been to Paris before and is amazed when she and her chaperones arrive to see the city so lit-up and bustling even after dark.
As the sun began its late afternoon descent, my eyes grew heavy. I must have dozed because when I opened them again the road had become busy with traffic in both directions. Carriages and wagons trundled past peddlers with goods-laden wheelbarrows, men in military uniforms, families, the older children walking, the youngest in arms or riding on older boys’ backs. Soldiers on horseback kicked up dirt in the faces of those on foot. Clusters of cottages littered both sides of the road.
“Paris soon! The largest city in all of Europe,” Oncle said. “Easily a half million people.”
“How does anyone know how many people live in a place so large?” Tatie asked.
I smirked when my uncle scowled at having his source of knowledge questioned.
Before long we passed through city gates and down narrow, crowded streets set with paving stones. The sky grew darker. Tatie gripped my hand. It wasn’t safe to be out after dark in any city, much less one as large as Paris.
To my wonderment, however, men in royal raiment moved along the Parisian streets, lowering large glass lanterns from poles set every twenty paces or so. They lit the lanterns, then raised them back up. The thoroughfares glowed with a soft light. I had never encountered anything so magical.
My eyes teared up—but not from the beauty. Rather, from the stench of the Parisian air. At home in Amiens, I would wrinkle my nose each time I encountered the fetid smell of horse droppings or urine puddles. Here, however, to keep from gagging at the reek of open sewage, I had to push my face deep into the lavender nosegays Oncle purchased at a roadside stand. Was this the trade-off for having so many people living in one city?
Everywhere buildings, roads, and bridges were under construction. Despite the late hour, workmen bustled about shouting to one another. Draft horses pulled wagons full to the brim with lumber, cobblestones, and bricks, the clopping of their hooves competing with the clank of hammers against stone.
Our carriage came to a stop in front of a large, imposing edifice. Row upon row of windows framed by ornate cornices glowed with calm authority. The palace.
Paris is often called the City of Light. Some people mistakenly attribute the nomenclature to the Enlightenment period of the 18th century, when Paris became the intellectual hub of Europe. Others say the name began when Paris adopted gas lighting in the early 19th century. But in fact, the name “City of Light” came about because of one man in 1667. His name was Gabriel Nicholas de la Reynie. King Louis XIV appointed him to be the Lieutenant General of Paris, in effect, the chief of police.
Throughout the 1600s, Paris—then vying with London for the reputation of being the largest city in Europe—was dark, dirty, and full of menace. The people of the city dared not go out after sunset because thieves and murders lurked in the dark. Windows were shuttered, doors locked and barred.
All that changed when la Reynie was put in charge. Besides reorganizing the police force to be more efficient and more effective, la Reynie came up with a scheme to keep the city safer at night. With the king’s blessing, he invoked an ordinance by which candle-lit lanterns were to be hung at every intersection and along every thoroughfare. Within a year roughly 3,000 of these lamps were hung, lit every night at dusk. The lit-up streets helped reduce nighttime crime immensely because thieves and murderers could no longer easily hide from the police.
When Sylvienne first arrives in Paris in 1670, she is amazed at how modern this famous city is. In her eyes, the lights at night give Paris a special, magical feel. Later, when she gets to Versailles, the sights she encounters will be even more magical.
This title is available to read on #KindleUnlimited.
Author Bio:
Peggy Joque Williams is the author of Courting the Sun: A Novel of Versailles and co-author of two mystery novels, On the Road to Death’s Door and On the Road to Where the Bells Toll, written under the penname M. J. Williams. She is an alumnus of Michigan State University and the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
A retired elementary school teacher and avid researcher, Peggy’s fascination with genealogy and her French-Canadian, European, and Native American ancestry inspires her historical fiction. She lives in Madison, Wisconsin.
Three women. One shared struggle. Can they survive?
1970. When Adrienne Chevalier’s perfect life in a chic quartier of Lyon unravels, she flees to rural Sainte-Marie-du-Lac to escape her controlling husband, Emile.
Taking refuge at the idyllic L’Auberge de Léa, Adrienne befriends Blanche Larue, who is herself trapped by her husband’s infidelity. Adrienne begins to understand the subtle strictures that keep women chained across generations.
But to what diabolical lengths will Emile go to reclaim his wife? And can Blanche find the courage to choose truth over appearances?
1914. Suzanne Rossignol bids farewell to her beloved husband as he marches off to war. Through Suzanne’s journal entries, Adrienne discovers that the damaged soldier who returns from the trenches is a stranger, leaving Suzanne to navigate a home-front battlefield.
Join Adrienne, Blanche and Suzanne on their emotional journeys amidst the tranquil French countryside as they fight to escape the shackles of tradition and abuse. Their stories, bridging half a century, are bound by a timeless struggle.
A heart-wrenching blend of historical and women’s fiction, Lake of Widows explores the complexities of marriage, family secrets and self-discovery in 20th-century France.
Perfect for fans of Kristin Hannah and Kelly Rimmer.
Liza grew up in Wollongong, Australia, where she worked as a general nurse and midwife.
After meeting her French husband on a bus in Bangkok in 1988 and, three children and many pets later, she has now been living in a rural village in France for thirty years.
She works part-time as a medical translator, and editor, and as a novelist.
For newsletter signups, Liza offers her award-winning short story collection for free: Friends and Other Strangers: https://books2read.com/u/mleND9
Where the magic of poetry and the enchantment of faeries intertwine.
In this third installment in “The Enchanted Faerie Realm” series, readers embark on a whimsical journey through the wondrous world of faeries and the beauty of language, as every verse sparkles with the essence of fantasy.
This book and the first two are delightful introductions to the magic of poetry and celebrations of the timeless allure of faeries. Captivating illustrations bring the faerie realm to life and invite readers to immerse themselves in the wonder of imagination.
Plus, each book in this series explores different facets of poetic expression. This book, “The Enchanted Faerie Realm Too,” takes a delightful journey exploring the intricacies of Types of Rhymes and Sound Devices in a section in the back along with pages to write poetry and a Create Your Own Faeries craft.
Perfect for young dreamers and poetry enthusiasts, “The Enchanted Faerie Realm Too” inspires wonder, creativity, and a love for the written word.
I found this book about fairy realms and rhyming verse to be perfect for children and adults. The beautiful illustrations deliver the feeling of being in different fairy realms. The verbiage included delivers words to enchant and explain what fairies do in different seasons. The name of flowers and other things such as “pull up a mushroom” for use as a chair evoke children’s imaginations. Five shiny gold stars.
Kathryn Knight has it all – a beautiful home, a loving husband, and a successful job as a theatre sister at St Anne’s hospital. Life is good. Finley Dey is a surgeon and the new hospital director. He’s tragically lost his family in an accident and has come to England to make a fresh start. He’s also stunningly attractive. Despite the guilt she feels for betraying her husband, Kathryn and Fin are thrown together, lust and desire grasping every clandestine opportunity. But a prediction from a psychic unnerves Kathryn and soon deceit, denial and ultimately death knock her world off its axis, turning her perfect life upside down.
My Review:
What a love story/hospital setting/probable murder and more.
Well, this novel was unique, for sure! Love comes in many forms, but with a great love one also has great loss, if a loved one dies, whether a natural death or a murder. Life can flip anytime, and what you thought was, never was at all. The psyche of the antagonists were interesting and to read their respective thoughts were bewildering. The protagonists also had bits of antagonistic traits and makes for a great read.
Lady Lilliana Grantley has been seriously ill with typhoid, a disease that recently claimed her husband Edgar’s life and that of his long-time lover, Rosemary Gibbs. Now recovering at last, the lady wastes no tears on her husband but is determined to wreak revenge on his two illegitimate children.
Embarrassed for years by his affair with Rosemary, a childhood sweetheart living nearby, she has falsely accused Sir Edgar’s daughter, Millicent, of the theft of a precious brooch and wants to see her jailed or hung.
Fortunately for Millie and her little brother, Jonathan, their granny, Emily, insisted they leave home as soon as she heard of Sir Edgar’s death, for she knew his widow would seek revenge. The old lady was soon proved right, and Lady Lilliana, furious the two youngsters were nowhere to be found, evicted the old woman despite the fact she, too, was dangerously ill.
After a long and hazardous journey to North Devon, Millie and Jonathan were united with some long-lost family members who made them welcome and gave them a home. However, aware that Lady Lilliana has put a price on Millie’s head, they know they are not yet out of danger. Despite this, they are determined to find their granny, Emily, who seems to have disappeared.
Aided by her long-time lover, Sir Clive Robinson, Lady Lilliana is determined to find Millie and Jonnie and get them out of her life once and for all, but how far will the embittered woman go?
A Woman Scorned
Snippet 1
Excerpt from Chapter 2
Brampford Speke, a peaceful little village situated only a few miles from the bustling city of Exeter, would probably not have existed at all, but for the position of Grantley Manor, for farm labourers were always in demand on the large and prosperous estate. The village was surrounded by green rolling hills and picturesque scenery, and despite the bitter temperature that morning, the vicar was content with his lot.
Gregory Swann was an elderly man, born in the village some seventy years earlier and raised to follow in his father’s footsteps as a man of the cloth. Indeed, he still lived in the same house he had been born in and knew the only way he would ever want to leave would be carried out feet first. Kissing Edith, his wife of more than fifty years, goodbye, he crossed the icy yard to the stable, where he saddled his pony and set off to visit his parishioners.
Despite his warm hat, scarf, and gloves, the portly man shivered violently in the sub-zero temperatures, and his breath hung in the air. The grass and hedgerows glistened with a hard frost, and ice covered the village pond where a couple of ducks skidded on the surface, futilely seeking a morsel to eat.
He planned to visit several needy folk that day, some physically unwell, others depressed with their daily struggle for survival, and a few simply lonely and who would benefit from seeing a friendly face. He decided his first port of call would be to Ollie and Agnes Darch. Shortly before Christmas, the Darches had suffered from typhoid, a disease which had carried many to their graves, causing him and the local undertaker much work over the festive period. Thankfully, the couple had recovered, and the epidemic appeared to be over, but he had heard that Ollie was now suffering from lumbago.
Marcia Clayton writes historical fiction with a sprinkling of romance and mystery in a heart-warming family saga that stretches from the Regency period through to Victorian times.
A farmer’s daughter, Marcia was born in North Devon, a rural and picturesque area in the far South West of England. When she left school at sixteen, Marcia worked in a bank for several years until she married her husband, Bryan, and then stayed at home for a few years to care for her three sons, Stuart, Paul and David.
As the children grew older, Marcia enrolled in a secretarial course, which led to an administrative post at the local college. Marcia progressed through various jobs at the college and, when working as a Transport Project Coordinator, was invited to 10 Downing Street to meet Tony Blair, the then Prime Minister. Marcia later worked for the local authority as the Education Transport Manager for Devon County Council and remained there until her retirement.
Now a grandmother, Marcia enjoys spending time with her family and friends. She’s a keen researcher of family history, and this hobby inspired some of the characters in her books. A keen gardener, Marcia grows many of her own vegetables. She is also an avid reader and enjoys historical fiction, romance, and crime books.
Marcia has written six books in the historical family saga, “The Hartford Manor Series”. You can also read her free short story, “Amelia”, a spin-off tale from the first book, “The Mazzard Tree”, by downloading the story here: https://marciaclayton.co.uk/amelia-free-download/
In addition to writing books, Marcia produces blogs to share with her readers in a monthly newsletter. If you would like to join Marcia’s mailing list, you can subscribe here: https://marciaclayton.co.uk/
All is not straightforward when money and titles are involved.
Orphaned, afraid and on the run, Chip must Flee.
Madeline was his mother’s best friend. Maddie now needs to keep her charge safe and alive. She must give up her life to protect the boy she has loved since birth.
Months after Chip’s parents’ demise, Maddie sets out to deliver Chip to his Uncle Humphrey, who lives in Sydney. Through him, she meets Chip’s friend Tim, who falls for Maddie— but will they find happiness?
The menacing presence soon finds Chip, and Maddie needs to hide him again. They are moved from hidden farms to secret valleys, ending up in an aboriginal encampment.
Can Tim find a way to be with Maddie? And if so… Will Chip ever be safe?
Sara Powter lives on the NSW Central Coast. Her childhood was spent with her parents, mainly travelling up and down the East Coast of Australia, fishing, shell collecting, and doing some of her education through correspondence schooling.
With a passion for science, she worked as a Scientific Assistant in the Entomology Department of the Department of Agriculture. She married Stephen soon after leaving there, and they spent 30 years in Ministry in the Newcastle Anglican Diocese in NSW, only retiring at the end of 2020.
When ‘Covid 19’ hit, time was available to pen some of the stories she’d wanted to write for some time. Within twelve months, eight stories were finished, and ideas for more were coming (after four years, she had recently completed her twenty-eighth book). These stem from her passion for Colonial Australia, her convict ancestors, and the fantastic country’s remarkable history!
Sara wrote these as she wished to complete one of her mother’s unfinished manuscripts. The series prequel, “Dancing to Her Own Tune,” is now completed and ties in Sheila Hunter’s Australian Trilogy with Sara’s Lockley series and many others. All are Clean Australian Historical Fiction.
But… Watch for more in The Hunter to Macquarie Collection and The Convict Birthstain Collection.
Life on Molly is a travel and lifestyle blog. I am a normal girl with many passions. I am an explorer of new places, a learner of new languages, creator of my ambitions, blogger, and a good pal. This blog is my little corner of the world where I am able to share my adventures with you and inspire you to live a life full of purpose.
When Angels Fly 